Alden Library government documents celebrating 125 Years

Sep 9, 2011From staff reports

Ohio University's Alden Library will celebrate its 125th anniversary as a member of the Federal Library Depository Program (FLDP) on Friday, Sept. 16.

The celebration begins at 2:30 p.m. on the fifth floor of Alden Library. The event is open to the public and will feature a short address by George Barnum, the agency historian of the U.S. Government Printing Office in Washington D.C. A reception will follow the presentation.

Barnum has roots in Ohio's educational areas. Before joining the Federal Depository in 1997, he acted as government documents librarian at Case Western Reserve University and also taught in the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science. His brief address, titled "Notable Days, Snapshots on 150 Years of Service to the Nation" will highlight the significance of depository libraries.

Depository libraries provide free access to publications from all three branches of the federal government. From tax information to Supreme Court cases, citizens have access to thousands of different items of government information. The Carnegie Library of Athens, Athens County, (now University Libraries) was designated as a federal depository on Sept. 17, 1886, by Designator Honorable C. H. Grosvenor, a U.S. senator. In the past 125 years, Athens County citizens benefitted greatly from having access to such an array of governmental information.

Government Documents in Alden Library hold a collection of more than 900,000 document titles from nearly all government agencies, making it one of the largest and oldest depositories in southeastern
Ohio. But by no means is it out of date. The documents can be found in many formats including books, periodicals, CDs, maps, pamphlets, and electronic.

"We encourage the Ohio University students, faculty and staff as well as the general public to come to Alden Library to access government documents or view this information online through our web site," says Doreen Hockenberry, head of Government Documents and Maps Collection Department, FDLP #0473.